The action stars of the Fast and Furious franchise are basically superheroes in their own right, defying physics, coming back from the dead and defeating world-threatening supervillains. But increasingly we are seeing them actually suit up in full-on comic book movies. When asked if she would like to follow fellow Fast star and future Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson’s leap into the DC Universe, Michelle Rodriguez revealed that she wants to play one DC character more than any other superhero role, saying:
I would love to be a superhero. I think DC has my favorite superhero, which is Catwoman. I like her because she's bad and good and I'm in the middle when it comes to being good. I'm pretty bad good so I would go the DC route 'cause there aren't a lot of really great female superheroes in general and so I need a little edge or I can't play and so Catwoman I think is my favorite.
Michelle Rodriguez would love to be a superhero, and realistically who wouldn’t? And like any good comic book fan, the actress has a very specific character in mind. She is all in on joining the DC Universe with Dwayne Johnson because DC is the home of her favorite superhero and comic book character, Selina Kyle herself, Catwoman.
The actress who returns to the role of Letty Ortiz in Fast & Furious 9 (which is now seemingly going by the succinct title F9) would like to play Catwoman more than any other superhero role because of the kinship she feels with the character. As Michelle Rodriguez tells MTV International, she likes Catwoman because Catwoman rides the middle and is neither a full on villain, nor is she an unimpeachable hero.
Catwoman is both good and bad, having flirted with both sides of the morality spectrum and everything in between in both the pages of DC comics and in the movies. Michelle Rodriguez appreciates the moral grey-ness of Catwoman because she sees herself as being both bad and good. She knows who she is and that anti-hero descriptor fits her nicely.
The actress believes that she needs her characters to exist in that gray area and to have that edge to be able to play them and because of that, Catwoman is the perfect superhero for her to play.
Unfortunately for Michelle Rodriguez, and Aubrey Plaza, and Vanessa Hudgens, all of whom expressed interest in playing the character, the leather suit and cat ears are currently spoken for. Matt Reeves has cast Zoë Kravitz to play Catwoman in his upcoming DC film The Batman so, barring another film set in a different universe, none of them will likely be playing the character anytime soon.
That doesn’t mean Michelle Rodriguez couldn’t play a superhero though. There is certainly a trend of Fast and Furious actors doing it. Vin Diesel has done it and will again as a different character, Tyrese Gibson wants to do it and John Cena and The Rock are about to do it.
And although Michelle Rodriguez doesn’t think there are many great female superheroes in general, I would argue that there are, they just don’t all have the history and awareness that a character like Catwoman does. With the superhero movie genre showing no signs of slowing, there will certainly be other opportunities and Michelle Rodriguez could definitely deliver as an anti-hero character like Catwoman.
In the meantime, you can see her return as Letty Ortiz in F9, in theaters on May 22. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies coming this year.
